Best CD Player for under $400

[nanahachi]

drool

but is that hdcd and redbook only?

QG: i wanna upgrade my Marantz 5 cd changer this March, is the rotel the best pure CDP under $600 or so?

any thoughts of a DVD-A/SACD player that will have equal or better fidelity as the rotel, or at very least my meakly Marantz?

 

[wallijonn]

I've been looking at the Sony DVP-NS755V SACD/DVD model. the specs look promising enough (12bit@108MHz video, and 24bit (audio)@?(possibly 44MHz)). Don't know what, if any, oversampling is for redbook, though. It has twin lasers, and the SACD can be output to both analogue and 5.1. $250 at BestBuy. $225 on the net.

and now that I have read that sacmods.com charges $300 to update the power supplies, op amps to class A, etc., I may NOT buy the NS755V. I may as well just buy a Pioneer Elite 45A or try to find an affordable Onkyo. I know for a fact that the Onkyo does not have switching power supplies, they have separate signal paths, twin lasers, and triple power supplies.

now if it only had Burr-Brown triple DACs... (Pioneer Elite, NAD, Onkyo, Sherwood)

seeing as many people are dumping their dedicated cd players for dvd, you should be able to find a good High Quality cd player, NAD (like 541), etc., on Ebay. I got my Denon 810 for $25, and a Marantz CD-67SE High End CD Player is going for slightly over $130 right now. And of course there's always audiogon.com where every now and then you get a killer deal.

I'll probably wait for the Jan. 2 sales before buying. Let's hope the 963SA is out by then. I wonder if the 963SA will have a switching power supply like the 763SA ("standby" mode causes noise).

 

[bifcake]

Quote:

Originally posted by markl Let me turn this argument around--- IMO, why spend $700 on an obsolete machine that will only play Redbook CDs? That seems ill-advised from my perspective. Mark

A $700 CD player will probably be of better quality than an equally priced SACD or DVD-A player. You can get a very good CD player for $700, especially used. Whereas the high resolution players will be high end consumer models in this price range and may not be able to deliver the same sound fidelity as their dedicated CD counterparts.

 

[Nefarion]

Ok... Ive now done some research on the Rega CD Players. It seems I could find the old rega planet for under $400 used .. The new rega 2000 will cost around $700 used. The Rega jupiter can be found for about $1000 used.

Im seriously thinking about going with one of the 3. The reviews are very good on the regas. Im thinking the original planet may be fine for me... I have rethought my "i want new only" idea after seeing how much this will cost me.

I still want to get a quality cd player becuase I do plan on getting at least 2 headphone setups (hd600 w/ASL MG and grado RS-1 w/unchosen solid state amp).. And eventually a good stereo speaker setup. So it makes sense to invest in a good cd player.

If anyone has any thoughts on the rega systems please share.. As well as more reccomendations. Thanks for all your help.

 

[markl]

A couple members here that i am aware of, Vertigo-1 and RVD had disappointing experiences with the higher end Regas. You might want to talk to them or do a search on Vertigo's review on this site.

Mark

 

[chillysalsa]

You may also want to audition some of the popular tube CD players: AH! Tjoeb 4000, and Heart 6000

The tube warmth may be to your liking...

 

[kpfeifle]

I own the Ah! Tjoeb 4000, and like it alot. One of the nice things about this player is it can be upgraded in stages (as funds allow). The op-amps can be switched, you can instal a new DAC with upsampling and of course you can have a lot of fun rolling tubes.

 

[grinch]

spend $150 and buy the denon dcm that everyone seems to like on the cheap. the sony ns500v is decent for $150 too, but i think it's pretty much sold out everywhere.

spend the rest of the money on music. see the music forum for a ****load of good recommendations. ease into this slowly. if you end up really liking audio and take it on as a hobby, there are plenty of ways to spend your money after that.

 

[wallijonn]

The Onkyo DX1800 cdp has 20 bit 8x oversampling Burr-Brown DACs, and one went for $35 on Ebay.

Like wise the Pioneer Elite DVD45 and DVD47ai read both SACD and DVD-A. The dvd45 can be had for $400 and has Burr-Brown DACs.

a lot of Denon players you have to be careful of because they may be re-labelled panasonic units which do not use Burr-Brown dacs, are of a lesser build quality, etc.

 

[Nefarion]

hi guys, thought id update my status on this subject.

I have decided after thinking it over that i will go ahead and buy something not so high-end right now. I am seeing a lot of people jump right into this hobby only to end up in the marketplace selling everything for 75% of what they paid for it.

I need a dvd player in my bedroom as well so i am looking very closely at the Sony DVPNS755V . It plays SACD... Not sure how it sounds or anything, but I think it might be a wise place to start. The fact that it is a dvd player makes it even more useful as well. The only reason i would sway from this decision is if you guys highly dont reccomend this player. For the price, i have no expectations for it to be a superb cd player. But merely a starting point with something to fall back on (ive got a collection of nearly 200 dvd's, cant get enough dvd players in the house). Thanks for all your help guys.. I defenitly have some very good ideas for when im looking for more high end equipment.. My job is looking iffy right now so thats really not foreseable any time soon. Take care, and if you have any suggestions to my recent thoughts please let me hear em!

 

[wallijonn]

nef,

tell us how the Sony sounds, as I was considering buying it at BestBuy for $250.

 

[rgame666]

Anyone heard the Sony DVP 999ES yet?
How would that compare to Rotel RCD-1070?

 

[rgame666]

and I forgot....

Arcam CD82T - how does that compare to the Sony and Rotel?

Decisions, decisions.....

 

[zeplin]

posted by nanahachi:

Quote:

bifcake, thanks for listing a few CDPs im not in a big hurry to get a new CDP (new or used), since im tyring to save up for a Gilmore. however, i know the tenet "garbage in, garbage out." thus, at some pt i need to replace my Marantz C-67. realistically, is $700 the "safe" price range for a great player? what would work well with my Marantz PM-17 integrated amp? i'm happy to buy used, and my local hi-fi store will be having a sale in March (giving me time to save). I have heard the Sony 555ES SACD player, and it sounded great, but I couldnt really compare it to anything. I am interested in SACD, but know nothing about it or DVD-A. im going to go read that thread on new formats now... thanks for creating this thread Nefarion, and thanks to all who post suggestions, etc __________________ WTB

As you can see, Nanahachi, no one has replied to you because you rudely interrupted someone elses thread that started with THEIR OWN QUESTION! And I know it's along the lines of the same topic, but you shouldn't have done it, especially when the poster is a new comer to the hobby...and he needs all the answers and attention he can get right now...we all know what it's like to know very little about something so incredibly huge when first starting out! I don't wanna be a complete ass, but that's kinda rude man. The whole point of this forum is to make your OWN posts for your OWN questions. But no sweat, everyone has done this at one time or another...I have done this too...when I first started out here at this great place called head-fi! The wierd thing is, you're not a noob, you should know better! But you live and learn! I just ABSOLUTEY HATE IT when someone else butts in on my post that I started that is only intended for my concerns, especially when that person can easily start another post. And maybe other people don't mind as much as I do, but that's just my take on this. Take care man!

 

[AdamP88]

Quote:

Originally posted by zeplin posted by nanahachi: As you can see, Nanahachi, no one has replied to you because you rudely interrupted someone elses thread that started with THEIR OWN QUESTION! And I know it's along the lines of the same topic, but you shouldn't have done it, especially when the poster is a new comer to the hobby...and he needs all the answers and attention he can get right now...we all know what it's like to know very little about something so incredibly huge when first starting out! I don't wanna be a complete ass, but that's kinda rude man. The whole point of this forum is to make your OWN posts for your OWN questions. But no sweat, everyone has done this at one time or another...I have done this too...when I first started out here at this great place called head-fi! The wierd thing is, you're not a noob, you should know better! But you live and learn! I just ABSOLUTEY HATE IT when someone else butts in on my post that I started that is only intended for my concerns, especially when that person can easily start another post. And maybe other people don't mind as much as I do, but that's just my take on this. Take care man!

Um, I think you're overreacting quite a bit. If you'll look around this forum, lots of people looking for similar things will post in the same thread rather than start a new one, and I definitely don't think nanahachi was being rude, nor was he hijacking the thread or taking it on a completely different track. If you'll notice, after nanahachi posted, people still replied to Nefarion and his questions were still being replied to. I think there's room in one thread for more than one question, don't you? The forum police act is rather unnecessary.